Vehicle tire lift/carrier winch mechanisms have been used in the past to store a spare tire beneath a vehicle such as an automobile, truck and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,197 issued Nov. 22, 1977, to Iida, U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,973 issued Aug. 20, 1985 to Dorr et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,136 issued Oct. 1, 1985 to Denman et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,947 issued Dec. 2, 1986, to Denman et al disclose winch mechanisms for tire lift/carriers wherein an eccentric gear arrangement is employed to provide a mechanical advantage in driving the sheave assembly of the winch in rotation to wind or unwind the cable connected to the spare tire carrier frame.
In these patented winch mechanisms, the sheave assembly typically includes a pair of sheave side plates maintained in spaced apart relation by suitable fasteners such as rivets and a rotatable sheave center plate having a peripheral edge forming a cable-wrapping track on which the cable is wrapped or unwrapped depending upon the direction of rotation of the sheave assembly The spacing between the sheave side plates is selected to cause the cable to wind or wrap on itself as the sheave assembly is rotated.
The winch cable typically is attached to the sheave assembly by affixing an enlarged cylindrical sleeve member onto the cable end and forming side-by-side apertures in the sheave side plates and the sheave center plate to receive the enlarged sleeve member affixed on the cable end. In particular, the enlarged sleeve is dimensioned to extend into apertures in the sheave side plates and to ride on rims of the side plates defining the apertures therein as the sheave assembly is rotated.
British Patent 316,977 illustrates a spring biased drum and cable assembly attachable to a towing vehicle to maintain a cable extending from the towing vehicle to a towed vehicle taut at all times. The drum includes a spiral groove in which one end of the cable is received and is secured to the drum by welding, riveting or wedging.